CleanPin

Endosperm

2005-04-05T10:15:00.000-07:00

Tissue that surrounds and nourishes the embryo in the angiosperm seed. The initiation of endosperm is a definitive characteristic of angiosperms and requires the fusion of at least one nucleus in the embryo sac with a sperm nucleus from the pollen grain. (In gymnosperms the nutritive material of the seed is present before fertilization.) In some seeds the endosperm

Pozzo Di Borgo, Charles-andré, Count

2005-04-05T03:59:00.000-07:00

A native of Corsica, Pozzo favoured its political incorporation into France and, after Corsica was declared a département

Chiastolite

2005-04-04T21:02:00.000-07:00

A variety of the mineral andalusite (q.v.).

Dye

2005-04-03T13:19:00.000-07:00

Coloured substance synthesized from certain chemical compounds called benzenoid hydrocarbons, obtained from either coal tar or petroleum. Its most important use is in dyeing textiles. Wool or cotton fabrics may have dyes applied at any stage of manufacture from fibre to finished garment, depending on the nature of the textile, its subsequent processing, and

Progressive Party

2005-04-02T09:11:00.000-08:00

(1924), in the United States, a short-lived independent political party assembled for the 1924 presidential election by forces dissatisfied with the conservative attitudes and programs of the Democrats and Republicans. The Progressive Party included liberals, agrarians, Republican progressives, socialists, and labour representatives. It chose as its presidential candidate Senator Robert M. La Follette of Wisconsin, who in 1911 had organized what became an independent party formally called the Progressive but generally known as the Bull Moose Party (q.v.). The 1924 Progressives pledged a “housecleaning” of executive departments, public control of natural resources, public ownership of railways, and tax reduction. The party polled only some 17 percent of the popular vote and did not influence the election, in which President Calvin Coolidge and the Republicans won a majority. The Progressive Party dissolved when La Follette died the following year.

Mahdiyah, Al-

2005-04-02T01:50:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Mahdia, or Mahedia, town and fishing port on as-Sahil (coastal strip), eastern Tunisia. It lies on the narrow rocky peninsula of Cape Ifriqiya. The town owes its name to the mahdi (Arabic: mahdi, “the rightly guided one”) 'Ubayd Allah al-Mahdi, founder of the Fatimid dynasty, who established the town in 912 and in 921 made it his capital. Abandoned about 973, al-Mahdiyah was reestablished as a refuge capital of the Zirid

Education, History Of, Other German theorists

2005-04-01T10:19:00.000-08:00

In the history of pedagogy there is no period of such fruitfulness as the 19th century in Germany. In addition to Herbart, Froebel, Pestalozzi (in German Switzerland), and their followers, there were scores of the most important writers, philosophers, and theologians contributing their ideas on education—including Friedrich Schiller, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, G.W.F.

Tallapoosa River

2005-04-01T01:59:00.000-08:00

River rising in the Piedmont area of western Georgia, U.S., west of Atlanta, and flowing southwest in an irregular, steplike course for about 268 mi (431 km), joining the larger Coosa River just north of Montgomery, Ala., to form the Alabama River. Its only large tributary is the Little Tallapoosa, which joins it about midway in its course. All but the lower part of the drainage basin

Ben Nevis

2005-03-31T04:48:00.000-08:00

Highest mountain of the British Isles, in the Highland council area, Scotland. Its summit, reaching an elevation of 4,406 feet (1,343 metres), is a plateau of about 100 acres (40 hectares), with a slight slope to the south and a sheer face to the northeast. Snow lies in some parts all year, and permafrost conditions are almost reached. The mountain consists of a superstructure of volcanic rocks

Animal, Pseudocoelomates, or aschelminths

2005-03-30T20:47:00.000-08:00

The pseudocoelomates include the nematodes, rotifers, gastrotrichs, and introverts. Some members of some other phyla are also, strictly speaking, pseudocoelomate. These four phyla of tiny body size (many species no larger than the bigger protozoans) are placed together in part because they lack mesoderm on the inner side of the body cavity. Consequently, no tissue,

Thomas, W(illiam) I(saac)

2005-03-30T16:47:00.000-08:00

Thomas taught sociology at the University of Chicago (1895–1918), the New School for Social Research, New York City (1923–28), and Harvard University (1936–37). His Sex and

Clapper

2005-03-29T14:31:00.000-08:00

Clappers

Succulent

2005-03-28T09:26:00.000-08:00

Stomata are small mouthlike structures

Jackson

2005-03-28T00:49:00.000-08:00

Town, seat (1921) of Teton county, northwestern Wyoming, U.S. The town lies at the southern end of the Teton Range, just north of the Snake River, and is the centre of an important recreation and tourist industry. Explored by the fur trapper John Colter in 1807, Jackson takes its name from another trapper, David Jackson, who worked in the area in the 1820s and who organized summer rendezvous

Rickey, Branch

2005-03-27T16:05:00.000-08:00

Rickey started his professional playing career while studying at Ohio Wesleyan University, spent two seasons (1906–07) in the American

Philip I

2005-03-26T07:36:00.000-08:00

Philip was the elder son of Henry I of France by his second wife, Anne of Kiev.

Mcminnville

2005-03-26T05:12:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1886) of Yamhill county, northwestern Oregon, U.S., on the South Yamhill River. Settled in 1844 and named for McMinnville, Tennessee, it developed as a service centre for Yamhill Valley farmers. Linfield College (1849), affiliated with the American Baptist Churches, sponsors the Linfield Research Institute, a scientific laboratory. The economy is geared to lumber and food-processing

Diémer, Louis-joseph

2005-03-26T03:32:00.000-08:00

He was a student at the Paris Conservatoire from 1855 to 1861, and from 1863 he performed regularly, playing at the Alard, Pasdeloup, Colonne, Lamoureux, and Conservatoire concerts with great success; his repertoire included pieces written for him by Charles-Marie

Cohoes

2005-03-24T17:01:00.000-08:00

City, Albany county, eastern New York, U.S. It lies at the Cohoes Falls (locally called the Great Falls; 70 feet [21 metres] high) of the Mohawk River, where it tumbles into the Hudson River. Settled in 1665 by the Dutch Van Schaick family on the colonial military road between Albany (10 miles [16 km] south) and Lake George, its name is of Algonquian origin and means “pine tree.” Growth was influenced

Judaism, Moses Mendelssohn

2005-03-24T13:08:00.000-08:00

Moses Mendelssohn opened what may be called the German period of Jewish philosophy (c. 1750–c. 1830). This period, in which a considerable number of works on Jewish philosophy were written in German and often under the influence of German philosophy, is also marked by the emancipation of the Jews—that is, by the abrogation of discriminatory laws directed against them—and by their

Dagobert Ii

2005-03-24T03:02:00.000-08:00

The son of Sigebert III, Dagobert was packed off to an Irish monastery following the death of his father in 656, and the Austrasian throne was taken by Childebert the Adopted, son of Grimoald, the Austrasian mayor of the palace. After the downfall of Grimoald and Childebert,

Aschelminth

2005-03-23T14:33:00.000-08:00

Phylum name Aschelminthes, or Nemathelminthes, phylum of wormlike invertebrates, mostly of microscopic size. The phylum includes five diverse classes: Nematoda (or Nemata), Rotifera, Gastrotricha, Kinorhyncha (or Echinodera), and Nematomorpha. The American zoologist Libbie H. Hyman, in her classic textbooks on the invertebrates, originally included Priapulida as a class of the aschelminths, but Priapulida are

Economic Geology

2005-03-22T21:50:00.000-08:00

Economic geology deals with metal ores, fossil fuels (e.g., petroleum, natural gas, and coal), and other materials of commercial value, such as salt, gypsum, and building stone. It applies the

Saint Basil The Blessed

2005-03-22T19:09:00.000-08:00

Also called Pokrovsky Cathedral, Russian Svyatoy Vasily Blazhenny, or Pokrovsky Sobor, church constructed on Red Square in Moscow between 1554 and 1560 by Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible, as a votive offering for his military victories over the khanates of Kazan and Astrakhan. The church was dedicated to the protection and intercession of the Virgin, but it came to be known as the Cathedral of Vasily Blazhenny (St. Basil the Beatified) after Basil, the Russian holy fool

Liquid

2005-03-21T22:23:00.000-08:00

In physics, one of the three principal states of matter, intermediate between gas and crystalline solid.

Ukemochi No Kami

2005-03-21T20:59:00.000-08:00

According to the legend recounted in the Nihon shoki (“Chronicles of

Liddell, Eric

2005-03-20T15:11:00.000-08:00

The son of Scottish missionaries, Liddell was born in China. His family returned to Scotland when he was five years old. A gifted athlete, he excelled at rugby as well as running. He first gained national recognition by winning

Oeuvre, Théâtre De L'

2005-03-19T19:13:00.000-08:00

French Symbolist theatre founded in Paris in 1893 by Aurélien Lugné-Poë and directed by him until 1929. An actor and stage manager with André Antoine's Théâtre Libre, Lugné-Poë was introduced to Symbolist theatre at Paul Fort's Théâtre d'Art in the 1890s. When Fort retired from the theatre, Lugné-Poë assumed leadership in Symbolist production by opening what would become the Thé

Iron Age

2005-03-19T10:22:00.000-08:00

Final technological and cultural stage in the Stone–Bronze–Iron-Age sequence. The date of the full Iron Age, in which this metal for the most part replaced bronze in implements and weapons, varied geographically, beginning in the Middle East and southeastern Europe about 1200 BC but in China not until about 600 BC. Although in the Middle East iron had limited use as a scarce and precious

Pausanias

2005-03-18T13:33:00.000-08:00

A member of the Agiad royal family, Pausanias was the son of King Cleombrotus I and nephew of King Leonidas. He became regent for Leonidas' son after the father was killed at Thermopylae (480). Pausanias commanded the allied Greek army

Mammal, Populations

2005-03-18T10:06:00.000-08:00

A population consists of individuals of three “ecological ages”—prereproductive, reproductive, and postreproductive. The structure and dynamics of a population depend, among other things, on the relative lengths of these ages, the rate of recruitment of individuals (either by birth or by immigration), and the rate of emigration or death. The reproductive potential

Barreto, Francisco

2005-03-17T14:26:00.000-08:00

Barreto served in the East Indies, was governor of Portuguese India, and was probably instrumental in exiling Luís de Camões to Macau after the poet had published criticisms of Portuguese administration in India. In 1569 Barreto was entrusted by King Sebastian of Portugal with an expedition to

Coimbatore

2005-03-17T09:52:00.000-08:00

Town, administrative headquarters of Coimbatore district, Tamil Nadu state, southeastern India. Coimbatore is located on the Noyil River, 300 mi (480 km) south of Madras, on the Madras–Calicut (now Kozhikode) road. Long important as commanding the Palghat Gap to the west coast, it is a trade and processing centre for agricultural produce and a manufacturing centre for agricultural

Cherry, Donald Eugene

2005-03-16T09:18:00.000-08:00

U.S. jazz trumpeter (b. Nov. 18, 1936, Oklahoma City, Okla.--d. Oct. 19, 1995, Málaga, Spain), was a pioneer of free jazz as a member of the Ornette Coleman Quartet and later joined jazz with elements of African, Asian, Middle Eastern, and European music, thereby becoming a pioneer of world music as well. Cherry, who grew up in Los Angeles, hailed from a musical family. He had already achieved some local

Caucasian Languages, Abkhazo-Adyghian languages

2005-03-15T07:07:00.000-08:00

The Abkhazo-Adyghian group consists of the Abkhaz, Abaza, Adyghian, Kabardian, and Ubykh languages. Adyghians and Kabardians are often considered members of a larger, Circassian group. Abkhaz, with about 90,000 speakers, is spoken in Abkhazia (the southern slopes of the western Greater Caucasus, Georgia). The other languages are spread over the northern slopes of the western

Friuli-venezia Giulia

2005-03-15T01:23:00.000-08:00

Regione of northeastern Italy, bordering north and east on Austria and Slovenia, south on the Adriatic Sea, and west on Veneto regione; it has an area of 3,030 square miles (7,847 square km) and comprises the provincias of Udine, Pordenone, Gorizia, and Trieste. In the north the solid wall of the Carnine Alps, broken only by the Plöcken Pass (Passo di Monte Croce) and the low Tarvisio saddle,

Euler, Ulf Von

2005-03-13T17:07:00.000-08:00

Euler was the son of 1929 Nobel laureate Hans von Euler-Chelpin. After his graduation

Orange, House Of

2005-03-13T09:49:00.000-08:00

The counts of Orange became independent upon the disintegration of the feudal kingdom of Arles. They were vassals of the Holy Roman emperors from the 12th

Earth, Formation of joints

2005-03-13T02:44:00.000-08:00

Because joints are areas of weakness in sedimentary rocks, erosion may occur more readily along regions in which joints are closely spaced. Consequently, streams in some areas of jointed rocks tend to parallel one or more joint sets.

China, Formation of a rival southern government

2005-03-12T21:19:00.000-08:00

Meanwhile, in July Sun Yat-sen, supported by part of the Chinese navy and followed by some 100 members of parliament, attempted to organize a rival government in Canton. The initial costs of this undertaking, termed the Movement to Protect the Constitution, probably were supplied by the German consulate in Shanghai. On August 31 the rump parliament in Canton established

Vajpayee, Atal Bihari

2005-03-12T14:16:00.000-08:00

Vajpayee was first elected to Parliament in 1957 as a member of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS), a forerunner of the BJP. In 1977 the BJS joined three other parties to form the Janata Party, which led a government that lasted until July 1979. As foreign minister

Xenophon

2005-03-12T04:52:00.000-08:00

The most personal of his writings is Anabasis (or Anabasis Kyrou, “The Expedition of Cyrus”), published probably under a nom de guerre. The narrative excels in graphic details, but the fictitious speeches with which it is adorned have a contrived and artificial air. It is an account by a young man, somewhat romantic, excited by danger and discovery, receptive of impressions,

Dualism

2005-03-11T08:28:00.000-08:00

In philosophy, the use of two irreducible, heterogeneous principles (sometimes in conflict, sometimes complementary) to analyze the knowing process (epistemological dualism) or to explain all of reality or some broad aspect of it (metaphysical dualism). Examples of epistemological dualism are being and thought, subject and object, and sense datum and thing; examples

Handcuffs

2005-03-10T17:59:00.000-08:00

Device for shackling the hands, used by police on prisoners under arrest. Until modern times, handcuffs were of two kinds: (1) the figure 8, which confined the hands close together either in front of or behind the body, and (2) rings that fitted around the wrists and were connected by a short chain, these being somewhat like those used by modern police forces. The old names were

Akhmatova, Anna

2005-03-10T04:29:00.000-08:00

Akhmatova began writing verse at the age of 11 and at 21 became a member of the Acmeist group of poets, whose leader, Nikolay Gumilyov, she married in 1910 but divorced in 1918. The Acmeists, through

Ramananda

2005-03-09T20:42:00.000-08:00

Ramananda left home as a youth and became a sannyasin (ascetic) before settling in Varanasi (Benares) to study Vedic texts, Ramanuja's philosophy,

Coolidge, Grace

2005-03-09T10:00:00.000-08:00

Eventually she built her own house, which she lent to navy personnel during World War II. She died of heart disease in 1957 and was buried beside her husband and son at the Plymouth Notch Cemetery in Plymouth, Vermont. Like other presidents' wives, she lamented that she had to subjugate her private self to her public role: “This was I and yet not I—this was the wife of the President of the United States and she took precedence over me.” In the process, however, Grace Coolidge joined that small group of first ladies who are rated as more successful at their jobs than their husbands were at their presidencies.

Quadrilateral

2005-03-08T16:03:00.000-08:00

Famous combination of four fortresses mutually supporting one another, during the Austrian rule of northern Italy. The four fortified towns were Mantua, Peschiera, Verona, and Legnago, lying between Lombardy and Venetia; the former two were on the Mincio and the latter two on the Adige. The real value of the Quadrilateral, which gave Austria such a firm hold on Lombardy,

Anticlimax

2005-03-08T16:02:00.000-08:00

A figure of speech that consists of the usually sudden transition in discourse from a significant idea to a trivial or ludicrous one. Alexander Pope's The Rape of the Lock uses anticlimax liberally; an example isHere thou, great Anna, whom three realms obey,Dost sometimes counsel take, and sometimes tea.

Priesthood, Ancient Judaism

2005-03-08T03:05:00.000-08:00

When Christianity became the legal religion of the Roman Empire after AD 313, it had already inherited from its Jewish background a concept of an organized priesthood. The Jewish priesthood had been centralized in the Temple at Jerusalem (destroyed by the Romans in AD 70) since the 10th century BC. The Hebrew designations for those who exercised oracular, divinatory, and ecstatic

China, Central government

2005-03-07T23:49:00.000-08:00

In its early form the Ming central government was dominated by a unitary Secretariat. The senior executive official of the Secretariat served the emperor as a chief counselor, or prime minister. Suspected treason on the part of the chief counselor Hu Wei-yung in 1380 caused the Hung-wu emperor to abolish all executive posts in the Secretariat, thus fragmenting general

Atlanta Constitution, The

2005-03-06T20:47:00.000-08:00

It was founded in 1868, early in the Reconstruction era, and soon became a leader among Southern

Oder River

2005-03-06T08:27:00.000-08:00

Polish and Czech Odra, river of east-central Europe. It is one of the most significant rivers in the catchment basin of the Baltic Sea, second only to the Vistula in discharge and length. For the first 70 miles (112 kilometres) from its source, it passes through the Czech Republic. For a distance of 116 miles in its middle reach, it constitutes the boundary between Poland and Germany before reaching the

Atar

2005-03-05T13:28:00.000-08:00

Town, west-central Mauritania. It is an oasis and a caravan stopping point and lies on a road leading southwest to Nouakchott, the national capital. The oasis produces dates and grains and supports cattle, sheep, and goat grazing. Atar is the site of an airstrip; it also has a school for traditional weaving, and it is an important source of rugs. Pop. (1977) 16,326; (1988) 21,366.

Taffeta

2005-03-05T02:06:00.000-08:00

Fine, crisp plain-woven fabric with a faint weft, or filling-way, rib due to the greater number of warp threads than filling threads. It frequently has a lustrous surface. There are two distinct types of silk taffeta: yarn-dyed and piece-dyed. Yarn-dyed taffeta has a stiff handle and a rustle known as scroop, or froufrou. It is used for evening dresses and for underskirts for

Swartkrans

2005-03-04T13:27:00.000-08:00

One of three neighbouring South African sites where important fossil hominid remains have been found. See Sterkfontein.

Maccabiah Games

2005-03-04T06:42:00.000-08:00

International games held in Palestine (later Israel) from 1932, sponsored by the World Maccabi Union, an international Jewish sports organization founded in 1921. Events held are such Olympic events as athletics (track and field), swimming, water polo, fencing, boxing, wrestling, football (soccer), basketball, tennis, table tennis, and volleyball and such non-Olympic events as

Redjedef

2005-03-04T04:13:00.000-08:00

Also called Djedefre , Horus name Kheper third king of the 4th dynasty (c. 2575–c. 2465 BC) of Egypt. Redjedef was a son of Khufu (Cheops), builder of the Great Pyramid, by a secondary queen. The original crown prince, Kawab, who had married the heiress Hetepheres II, apparently predeceased his father. At Khufu's death, Redjedef married Hetepheres II and became king; but since he came from a secondary branch of the royal family, he probably

Kerala

2005-03-03T02:34:00.000-08:00

State of India. It has an area of 15,005 square miles (38,863 square kilometres), only about 1 percent of the total area of the country. The state stretches for 360 miles (580 kilometres) along the Malabar Coast on the southwestern side of the Indian peninsula; its width varies from 20 to 75 miles. It is bordered by the states of Karnataka (formerly Mysore) to the north and Tamil Nadu to the east and by the Arabian

Genesee River

2005-03-02T19:12:00.000-08:00

River mainly in New York state, U.S. The Genesee flows generally north from its headwaters in Pennsylvania, crosses the New York State Canal System, and bisects Rochester to enter Lake Ontario after a course of 158 miles (254 km). At Portageville, midway along its course, the river flows into a 17-mile- (27-km-) long postglacial, winding, rocky gorge with sides rising as high as 600 feet (180 metres)

La Condamine, Charles-marie De

2005-03-02T06:56:00.000-08:00

In 1735 La Condamine joined an expedition sent to Peru to determine the length near the Equator of a degree of the meridian. In 1743 he left the party, traveled from Quito (now in Ecuador), and began a four-month raft journey down to the mouth of

Swartkrans

2005-03-01T23:24:00.000-08:00

Any of about 30 species of mammals related to rabbits and belonging to the same family (Leporidae). In general, hares have longer ears and longer hind feet than rabbits. While the tail is relatively short, it is longer than that of rabbits. The vernacular names hare and rabbit are frequently misapplied to particular species. Jackrabbits of North

Ovarian Cancer

2005-03-01T04:14:00.000-08:00

A disease characterized by the abnormal growth of cells in the ovaries, the internal reproductive organs that produce the ova, or egg cells, in women. Most ovarian cancers begin in the outer layer of the ovaries, although some cancers develop from the connective tissue that holds the ovary together or from the cells that serve as precursors for eggs.

Amazonas

2005-02-28T22:09:00.000-08:00

Departamento (formed 1832), Nor Oriental del Marañón región, northern Peru, bounded on the north by Ecuador. It consists mostly of rain forest in the north, while in the south the Marañón River and its tributaries dissect the Cordillera Central. The Marañón forms part of the western boundary with Cajamarca departamento before flowing northeastward into the Amazon River

Böhm, Georg

2005-02-27T07:48:00.000-08:00

The son of an organist-schoolmaster, Böhm went to study at the University of Jena in 1684 and left probably in 1690. In 1698 he became organist at the Church of St. Johannis in Lüneburg, where he remained for the rest of his life and where the young J.S. Bach doubtless heard

Rancé, Armand-jean Le Bouthillier De

2005-02-27T06:40:00.000-08:00

Of noble birth, Rancé became commendatory

Wrigley, William, Jr.

2005-02-27T00:04:00.000-08:00

Wrigley went to work as a traveling soap salesman for his father's company at age 13. In 1891 he went to Chicago as a soap distributor and there started offering baking powder as a premium with each box of soap.

Antarctica, Other resources

2005-02-26T05:03:00.000-08:00

A rich imagination can see many possible uses of Antarctica and its materials. The continental ice sheet contains nearly 90 percent of the world's glacial ice—a huge potential supply of fresh water—but any economic value is precluded by delivery costs. Antarctica has been proposed as a long-term deep-freeze storage site for grain and other foods, but calculations show

Aschersleben

2005-02-25T23:14:00.000-08:00

City, Saxony-Anhalt Land (state), Germany. It is situated on the northern edge of the Unter Harz (Lower Harz) Mountains, southwest of Magdeburg. Probably founded in the 11th century, it was chartered in 1266 and was the ancestral seat of the Ascanians, an influential German family who derived their name (Latinized) from the town. It passed to the bishops of Halberstadt in 1315 and Brandenburg

Pittsburgh Glass

2005-02-25T16:07:00.000-08:00

American glassware produced from the end of the 18th century at numerous factories in that Pennsylvania city. Pittsburgh had the twin advantages of proximity to a source of cheap fuel (coal) and access to a good waterways system, which afforded an inexpensive means of distribution; thus, of the 50 glasshouses that sprang up in Pennsylvania between 1763 and 1850, 40 or more were situated

Ray, James Earl

2005-02-25T11:42:00.000-08:00

Ray had been a small-time crook, a robber of gas stations and stores, who had served time in prison, once in Illinois and twice in Missouri, and received a suspended sentence in Los Angeles. He escaped from the Missouri State Penitentiary on April 23, 1967; and in Memphis,

Château

2005-02-24T23:56:00.000-08:00

Originally, châteaus functioned as feudal communities; but with the rise of secular prosperity in the 14th century, the restrictive manorial system

Thomas, R.s.

2005-02-24T15:28:00.000-08:00

Thomas was educated in Wales at University College at Bangor (1935) and ordained in the Church of Wales (1936), in which he held appointments in several parishes. He published

Kuang-hsü

2005-02-23T09:24:00.000-08:00

When the previous emperor died, his mother, the empress dowager Tz'u-hsi, chose her four-year-old nephew

Mcmein, Neysa

2005-02-23T01:30:00.000-08:00

McMein attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and in 1913 went to New York City. She studied at the Art Students League for a few months and in 1914 sold her first drawing to the Boston Star. The next year she sold a drawing

Einsiedeln

2005-02-22T23:09:00.000-08:00

French Notre-dame-des-ermites, town, Schwyz canton, northeast central Switzerland, on the right bank of the Alp stream, northeast of Schwyz city. It developed around the Benedictine abbey, founded in 934. The abbey became a principality of the Holy Roman Empire in 1274 and belonged to Schwyz after 1386. Its wooden statue, the “Black Virgin” (which owes its name to the discoloration caused by the candles burned before

Facula

2005-02-22T14:49:00.000-08:00

In astronomy, bright granular structure on the Sun's surface that is slightly hotter or cooler than the surrounding photosphere. A sunspot always has an associated facula, though faculae may exist apart from such spots. Faculae are visible in ordinary white light near the Sun's limb (apparent edge), where the photospheric background is dimmer than near the centre

Kamchatka River

2005-02-22T00:02:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Kamcatka, river, far eastern Russia. It rises in the Sredinny (“Central”) Range of the Kamchatka Peninsula and flows north and east about 478 miles (758 km) past Milkovo, head of shallow-draught navigation, to the Bering Sea. The river freezes from November until May, except in places where hot springs come to the surface. The Kamchatka is used for timber transport. The port of Ust-Kamchatsk

Robert, Hubert

2005-02-20T06:52:00.000-08:00

Robert went to Rome (1754), was elected to the French Academy there, and became a friend and associate of the renowned etcher of architectural subjects Giambattista Piranesi. In 1759 he joined Abbé

Pisano, Nicola

2005-02-20T02:25:00.000-08:00

Pisano's origins are unclear. He is first recorded in 1260 in Pisa (or perhaps 1259, if corrections are made for the medieval Pisan calendar), but documents of 1266 twice

Kwa Languages

2005-02-19T14:56:00.000-08:00

The Kwa languages are divided into two groups. The larger Nyo group comprises 35 languages situated in southern Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana. It includes

Insurance, Group life insurance

2005-02-19T11:33:00.000-08:00

Under group life insurance an employer signs a master contract with the insurance company outlining the provisions of the plan. Each employee receives a certificate that gives evidence of participation in the plan. The amount of insurance depends on the employee's salary or job classification; usually the employer pays a portion of the premium and the employee

Spookfish

2005-02-18T02:28:00.000-08:00

Any of about 11 species of small marine fishes constituting the family Opisthoproctidae (order Salmoniformes), with representatives in each of the major oceans. The name spookfish, or barreleye, as they are sometimes called, originates from their unusual eyes, which are pointed upward and are borne at the end of short tubular stalks. Specimens have been collected at

Nomos

2005-02-17T18:57:00.000-08:00

Nomoi were also performed on the kithara

Mountain, Volcanoes and island arcs surrounding the Northwest Pacific Basin

2005-02-17T17:07:00.000-08:00

A chain of volcanoes extends from mainland Alaska down the Alaska Peninsula along the Aleutian Islands and then southwestward down the peninsula of Kamchatka in northeastern Siberia and along the Kuril Islands to Japan. The Pacific Plate is being subducted beneath this long volcanic chain. Most of the relief is the result of volcanism. The Aleutians and Kurils

Great Rift

2005-02-17T02:12:00.000-08:00

In astronomy, a complex of dark nebulae that seems to divide the bright clouds of the Milky Way Galaxy lengthwise through about one-third of their extent. From the constellation Cygnus, the rift reaches through Aquila and Sagittarius, where the centre of the Galaxy lies hidden behind it, to Centaurus. The clouds of dark material making up the Great Rift are several

Chemical Warfare

2005-02-16T18:36:00.000-08:00

Biological warfare agents are infectious microbes, including viruses, bacteria, and fungi, intended for use in warfare because of their pathogenic effects on people, animals, or plants. The development, production, and stockpiling of weapons based on them were outlawed by the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention, to which more than 100 states were party, including all five

Wajda, Andrzej

2005-02-16T02:45:00.000-08:00

Wajda became interested in the visual arts when working as assistant to a restorer of old church paintings in Radom. He studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków, then film

San Cristóbal

2005-02-15T19:26:00.000-08:00

In full Benemérita de San Cristóbal city, south-central Dominican Republic. It is situated in the coastal lowlands close to the Caribbean Sea. Founded by Spaniards in 1575, when gold was discovered in the area, it was the site of the signing of the Dominican Republic's first constitution (1844) and of the birth of dictator Rafael Trujillo Molina (1891). San Cristóbal is now a prosperous commercial centre for its agricultural

Arts, Islamic, Early period: the Umayyad and 'Abbasid dynasties

2005-02-15T05:17:00.000-08:00

Of all the recognizable periods of Islamic art, this is by far the most difficult one to explain properly, even though it is quite well documented. There are two reasons for this difficulty. On the one hand, it was a formative period, a time when new forms were created that identify the aesthetic and practical ideals of the new culture. Such periods are difficult to define

Patiala

2005-02-14T23:23:00.000-08:00

City, administrative headquarters of Patiala district, Punjab state, northwestern India. The city lies on a major rail line, as well as on a branch of the Sirhind Canal. Founded in 1763 as the capital of the princely state of Patiala, it is a trade and industrial centre; weaving, cotton ginning, distilling, and manufacturing are among its industries. Punjabi University (established

Kabwe Man

2005-02-14T05:45:00.000-08:00

Originally called Rhodesian Man, also called Broken Hill Man, extinct human being known from fossil remains (almost complete skull, maxillary fragment, sacrum, portions of pelvis and limb bones), found at Broken Hill, Northern Rhodesia (now Kabwe, Zambia), in the 1920s. Despite past disagreement about the classification of these specimens, they are now usually attributed to the early archaic Homo sapiens subspecies H. sapiens

Madinah 'isa

2005-02-13T22:13:00.000-08:00

English Isa Town planned community in the state and emirate of Bahrain, north-central Bahrain island, in the Persian Gulf. Conceived and underwritten by the Bahraini government as a residential settlement, it was laid out on an uninhabited site by British town planners in the early 1960s; the first units were occupied in 1968. The town is named for Sheikh 'Isa ibn Salman Al Khalifah, who ruled Bahrain

Murdoch, Rupert

2005-02-13T19:45:00.000-08:00

In full Keith Rupert Murdoch Australian-born newspaper publisher and media entrepreneur, founder and head of the global media holding company the News Corporation Ltd., which governed News Limited (Australia), News International (U.K.), and News America Holdings Inc. (U.S.). Murdoch's corporate interests centred on newspaper, magazine, book, and electronic publishing;

Ani

2005-02-11T23:24:00.000-08:00

Situated along a major east-west caravan route, Ani first rose to prominence in the 5th century AD and had become a flourishing town by the time Ashot III the Merciful (reigned 952–977), the Bagratid king of Armenia, transferred his

Amadeus Vi

2005-02-11T21:38:00.000-08:00

Son of Aimone the Peaceful, count of Savoy, Amadeus ascended the throne at the age of nine. He crossed the Alps in 1348 to put down a revolt of Piedmontese cities and won a victory over rebellious inhabitants of the Valais (east of Geneva) in 1352. In 1355 he married

Dacko, David

2005-02-11T16:17:00.000-08:00

A former teacher, Dacko held ministerial posts under Barthélemy Boganda, who was prime minister of the autonomous Central African Republic. Claiming a family relationship, he succeeded

Venetan

2005-02-11T03:52:00.000-08:00

Group of dialects of Italian spoken in northeastern Italy. It includes the dialects spoken in Venice (Venetian), Verona (Veronese), Treviso (Trevisan), and Padua (Paduan).

Dance, Western

2005-02-10T04:44:00.000-08:00

The peoples of the West—of Europe and of the countries founded through permanent European settlement elsewhere—have a history of dance characterized by great diversity and rapid change. Whereas most dancers of the East

Kaali Järv Craters

2005-02-10T00:28:00.000-08:00

Group of eight meteorite craters on Saaremaa Island in the Baltic Sea, 12 miles (20 km) northeast of Kingisepp, Estonia. The largest is 333 feet (110 m) in diameter, with a rim 20–23 feet (6–7 m) above the surrounding land. Thought to be an explosion crater because of this high rim and uplifted surrounding strata, it holds a pond about 53 feet (16 m) deep. The other craters are dry and range from 40 to 143 feet (12 to 44 m) in